Plantar orthosis

This application is the U.S. National Stage of PCT/EP2020/069351, filed Jul. 9, 2020, which in turn claims priority to French patent application number 1908040 filed Jul. 17, 2019. The content of these applications are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.

The field of the invention is that of plantar orthoses, or orthopaedic soles.

It is known to manufacture customised plantar orthoses of which the geometry is chosen to ensure a corrective action at the level of certain zones of the foot as a function of the necessities of the person intended to wear the orthoses.

Already known in the prior art are a multitude of plantar orthoses for satisfying a certain number of demands for orthopaedic soles for a certain number of pathologies encountered.

Also known are universal plantar orthoses comprising several corrective elements which make it possible to treat a large number of pathologies.

However, for certain pathologies, practitioners have to resort directly to more complicated surgical operations, because there does not exist today other treatment means making it possible to relieve the pain of the patient. This is the case notably when the patient is suffering from internal femorotibial osteoarthritis at the level of the internal knee compartment.

When the patient is suffering from femorotibial osteoarthritis, he feels permanent discomfort, a mechanical type of pain while walking, difficulty going up and down stairs, and even a pain which irradiates the upper part of the affected leg and the lower part of the thigh.

If no action is taken to treat these symptoms, creaking, blockages and sensations of buckling of the knee become more and more important until reaching radiological stage 4 where surgical operation becomes necessary.

Today, no solution exists making it possible to delay degeneration into stage 4. The only solutions provided by the medical profession are solutions for improving the comfort of the patient and decreasing pain, such as infiltrations, anti-pain medication, or the application of a cold source.

The applicant has noted that in the event of an internal femorotibial osteoarthritic impairment, one obtains in general, at the radiological level, a genu varum, i.e. a deviation of the lower limb in the frontal plane, leading to a compression of the internal knee compartment, and thus a reduction of the space of the internal knee compartment. This hyper pressure at the level of the internal knee compartment is thus a factor favouring the onset of osteoarthritis because the hyper pressure at the level of this internal compartment leads to premature wear of the cartilage.

In this context, the invention proposes a novel plantar orthosis having a particular profile making it possible to reduce or even to delay pain due to an osteoarthritic impairment at the level of the internal knee compartment, by changing in an unexpected manner the spatial configuration under the foot while respecting the physiology of the foot and the joint mobilities.

To this end, the invention relates to a plantar orthosis comprising a first sole and a plurality of raised corrective elements, said plantar orthosis being characterised in that it comprises:

Advantageously, the plantar orthosis according to the invention comprises an advantageous combination of corrective elements making it possible to modify the tibia/femur axis while respecting the physiology of the foot and the joint mobilities. Thus, thanks to the plantar orthosis according to the invention, it is possible to delay the premature wear of the cartilage at the level of the internal knee compartment, and thus surgical intervention. In this situation, surgical intervention may no longer be an obligatory act and may be avoided.

The plantar orthosis according to the invention may also have one or more of the characteristics below, considered individually or according to all technically possible combinations thereof:

The subject matter of the invention is also a method for manufacturing a plantar orthosis according to the invention.

Advantageously, the plantar orthosis is made by gluing said corrective elements on said first sole.

Advantageously, the plantar orthosis is made by a conventional technique by elements, by thermoforming, by use of a 3D printer, by use of a 3D milling machine.

The subject matter of the invention is also a shoe comprising a plantar orthosis according to the invention.

Advantageously, the plantar orthosis is removable or in one piece with said shoe.

The invention and the different applications thereof will be better understood on reading the description that follows and by examining the figures that accompany it.

For greater clarity, identical or similar elements are marked by identical reference signs in all of the figures.

In the present application, “longitudinal” is taken to mean the direction in the sense of the length of the foot and of the plantar orthosis and “transversal” the direction in the sense of the width of the foot and of the plantar orthosis.

In the present application, the terms “above”, “upper”, “below”, “lower” are conventionally defined by taking as reference the vertical axis extending along the height of the foot.

The terms “medial limit” or “medial edge” define the internal limit, or the edge, of the plantar orthosis, or of the corrective elements that constitute it.

Conversely, the terms “lateral limit” or “lateral edge” define the external limit, or the edge, of the plantar orthosis, or of the corrective elements that constitute it.

is a top view of a first exemplary embodiment of a plantar orthosis according to the invention.

is a side view of the first exemplary embodiment of a plantar orthosis illustrated in.

In this, a footprint of a foot P is represented in order to better visualise the positioning of the foot P of the wearer vis-h-vis the plantar orthosisaccording to the invention.

The plantar orthosishas a peripheral contourconstituting the outer perimeter of the plantar orthosis.

The plantar orthosisis constituted of a front partintended to receive the fore foot corresponding to the metatarsals and to the phalanges, a rear partintended to receive the hind foot formed by the rear part of the tarsus, and an intermediate partintended to receive the mid foot formed by the front part of the tarsus.

The plantar orthosiscomprises a base, cut for example from a thick sheet of a flat material, and which forms a first flat sole of constant thickness. On this baseare arranged, in relief, a certain number of corrective elements which will be detailed independently hereafter. The contour of the basedefines the overall peripheral contour of the plantar orthosis.

In this first exemplary embodiment, the plantar orthosishas:

It will be noted that the arrangement represented in, representing a first exemplary embodiment of the invention, defines the contour lines of the different corrective elements,,,, it being understood that the dimensions of these corrective elements can vary, in their width and in their length. Preferably, the length and/or the width of the corrective elements,,,can vary within the limits of ±10%, and preferably ±7% compared to the dimensions represented in. It will also be noted that the dimensions of the corrective elements,,,are obviously proportional to the sizes of the plantar orthoses.

represents a top view of the heel ring,also integrating representations of sections of the heel ring in the longitudinal plane and in the transversal plane.

The heel ringis used as neutral stabilisation element of the hind foot, notably improving the distribution of loads and ensuring a better maintaining of the heel of the wearer with respect to the shoe in which the plantar orthosisis positioned.

The heel ringhugs and accentuates the footprint of the heel (i.e. the calcaneum). It follows the anatomical contours of the rear support of the calcaneum on the ground. It has variable relief and thickness which prefigure the support of the heel on the ground and which are represented by the different representations of sections of.

As may be seen in, the collateral limitsand′ (i.e. lateral and medial) of the heel ringare defined by the limits which corresponds to the overhang for adapting the plantar orthosiswith the shoe. These limits are slightly convex, the maximum overhang being situated at the level of the rear part up to around half of the length of the heel ring.

The rear limitof the heel ringis limited by the overhang for adapting the plantar orthosiswith the shoe.

The antero-external, or antero-lateral, limit of the heel ringis defined by the outer (or lateral) edge of the first solewith regard to the external (lateral) Lisfranc joint.

The antero-medial, or antero-internal, limit of the heel ringis defined by the medial edge of the first solewith regard to the medial Chopart joint.

The inner limitof the heel ringhas two first convex parts.and.′ extending respectively from the antero-medial limitor from the antero-external limitat the level of each arm of the front portion of the heel ringand a second concave part.in the rear portion of the heel ringconnecting the two arms, the second concave part.being substantially parallel to the rear limitand to the rear contour of the first sole.

In referring to, it is possible to see the different reliefs of the heel ringalong the longitudinal direction and along the transversal direction of the plantar orthosis.

In the longitudinal direction, the relief of the heel ringhas a longitudinal profilehaving (from the rear to the front) a first rectilinear portion.of constant height at the level of the rear portion of the heel ringthen a second rectilinear portion.of which the height decreases progressively from the rear to the front. The first portion.of constant height advantageously extends from the rear limitup to ¼ antero-medial and ¼ antero-lateral of the heel ring.

The longitudinal section III realised at the level of the cross-sectional plane III-III shows the relief of the heel ringin the rear part. The height of the rear part is globally decreasing from the rear limitto the internal limit., according to a concave profile or according to an inclined plane.

The transversal reliefs of the heel ringare represented more specifically by the cross-sections I and II, realised respectively at the level of the cross-sectional planes I-I and II-II.

Transversally, the height is globally decreasing from the collateral limits,′ to the internal limitaccording to a convex, concave or rectilinear profile.

Concerning the cross-section I at the level of the sectional plane I-I, it represents a transversal profileat the level of the front portion of the heel ring. The transversal profileis of convex or rectilinear shape thus forming an inclined plane, of which the height decreases progressively from the collateral limits,′ to the internal limit

Concerning the cross-section II at the level of the sectional plane II-II, it represents a transversal profileat the level of the rear portion of the heel ring. The transversal profileis of concave or rectilinear shape thus forming an inclined plane, of which the height decreases progressively from the collateral limits,′ to the internal limit

It will also be noted that the height of the heel ringis maximum at the level of its peripheral perimeter.

The positioning of the heel ringin relief at the level of the first soleis realised as a function of the other corrective elements of the plantar orthosisand in such a way as to achieve the best juxtaposition possible without causing discomfort for the wearer.